Temperature Sensitive Snapping Smoking Disk and Systems for Use

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses a bimetallic snapping disk that alerts a smoker when the smoking substance reaches a certain temperature. Systems are also disclosed which facilitate the use of the disk in various smoking apparatuses.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to smoker's articles. More specifically, this application discloses a disk that snaps when a desired temperature of a smoking product is reached. The smoking product could be Cannabis or tobacco, for example.

BACKGROUND

Inhalation of Cannabis or tobacco products has been known for thousands of years. More recently, Cannabis extracts have been produced which benefit from an exact temperature for smoking. Designers of electronic Cannabis inflorescence “vaporizer” devices have also determined that inhalation, safety, and comfort benefit from choosing an exact temperature to “vaporize” the inflorescence. Electronic devices which have been developed to achieve a precise temperature, but these devices are unreliable, expensive, and inconvenient for transport. The present application discloses a simple, inexpensive, compact, indestructible method for achieving a precise smoking temperature, and systems for use of the method.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present application discloses a bimetallic disk which snaps visibly and/or audibly at a certain temperature. Multiple disks may be provided for a user to select which temperature it prefers. The disk may fit into standard combustion chambers of existing smoking apparatuses, such as a pipe or water pipe. Also disclosed are smoking devices designed to house the disk within the combustion chamber.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective side view of an embodiment of the system, showing a glass bowl attachment that may fit into a water pipe or normal pipe, a snapping disk, and a material plate.

FIG. 2 is a perspective side view of an embodiment of the system, with the snapping disk and material plate installed in the glass bowl attachment.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the glass bowl attachment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the Summary above and in this Detailed Description, and the claims below, and in the accompanying drawings, reference is made to particular features of the invention. It is to be understood that the disclosure of the invention in this specification includes all possible combinations of such particular features. For example, where a particular feature is disclosed in the context of a particular aspect or embodiment of the invention, or a particular claim, that feature can also be used—to the extent possible—in combination with and/or in the context of other particular aspects and embodiments of the invention, and in the invention generally

The term “comprises” and grammatical equivalents thereof are used herein to mean that other components, ingredients, steps, etc. are optionally present. For example, an article “comprising” (or “which comprises”) components A, B, and C can consist of (i.e., contain only) components A, B, and C, or can contain not only components A, B, and C but also contain one or more other components.

Where reference is made herein to a method comprising two or more defined steps, the defined steps can be carried out in any order or simultaneously (except where the context excludes that possibility), and the method can include one or more other steps which are carried out before any of the defined steps, between two of the defined steps, or after all the defined steps (except where the context excludes that possibility).

The term “at least” followed by a number is used herein to denote the start of a range including that number (which may be a range having an upper limit or no upper limit, depending on the variable being defined). For example, “at least 1” means 1 or more than 1. The term “at most” followed by a number is used herein to denote the end of a range, including that number (which may be a range having 1 or 0 as its lower limit, or a range having no lower limit, depending upon the variable being defined). For example, “at most 4” means 4 or less than 4, and “at most 40%” means 40% or less than 40%. When, in this specification, a range is given as “(a first number) to (a second number)” or “(a first number)-(a second number),” this means a range whose limits include both numbers. For example, “25 to 100” means a range whose lower limit is 25 and upper limit is 100, and includes both 25 and 100.

The present application discloses a snapping disk and system for use to allow a user to achieve a precise, desired temperature for smoking and inhaling a desired substance or material. The snapping disk allows a user to observe audibly and/or visibly that the smoking material has achieved a desired temperature. The user may use a cigarette-type lighter and/or heating torches as used in food kitchens or similar applications to heat the smoking bowl, with the snapping disk installed. Because the snapping disk may be made of two laminated metals, it may deform at a certain temperature. The snapping disk may be a bimetallic disk, available in multiple consistencies designed to snap at various temperatures. The snapping disk may fit into a custom-made smoking bowl, or may fit into readily available smoking apparatuses such as pipes or water pipes. The snapping disk may be available in multiple sizes to fit readily available smoking apparatuses. The snapping disk may be available in sets for various or may be available in a single temperature rating. Custom-made smoking bowls may be a part of the system. Smoking bowls may be made of copper, glass, aluminum, or any other suitable material. Copper or aluminum smoking bowls may have wood or another insulator to surround the bowl to reduce the likelihood of burning the user.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective side view of an embodiment of the system using a custom made glass bowl attachment to a water pipe. This figure shows a glass bowl attachment, 101, a snapping disk, 102, and a material plate, 103. The snapping disk, 102, may be placed into the bowl end, 106, of the glass bowl attachment, 101, and then rest on the bottom of the glass bowl attachment. The material plate may then be placed into the bowl end, 106, of the glass bowl attachment, 101, and may then rest on the prongs, 104. A desired smoking material, such as Cannabis inflorescence, may then be placed onto the material smoking disk, 103. The attachment end, 106, of the glass bowl attachment, 101, may then be inserted into a desired smoking apparatus, such as a water pipe or normal pipe. The user may then heat the bowl end, 106, containing the Cannabis inflorescence. When the desired temperature is achieved, the snapping disk, 102, snaps visibly and audibly. The user may then know that it may stop applying heat to the smoking material and inhale. The glass bowl attachment, 101, may also have an air bypass, 105, colloquially known as a carburetor, or carb for short. The air bypass, 105, allows the user to inhale for as long of a period as desired, and then clear the system with fresh air afterwards.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the system with the snapping disk, 203, and material plate, 202, installed in the glass bowl attachment, 201.

FIG. 3 shows a top view of the glass bowl attachment, 301, without the material plate or snapping disk installed.

The snapping disk and systems for use may have many embodiments. Embodiments may be designed to be disposable—used a few times and discarded, or reusable indefinitely.

Metal embodiments of the system may use multiple materials for optimum comfort. Some parts may be glass, wood, or different types of metals. Metals may be insulated by wood. Metal smoking bowls may have a slit cut in to the lower portion in order to allow the user to better hear the snapping of the disk at the desired temperature. This may be due to the fact that metal smoking bowls are opaque and do not allow a user to see the disk snap.

The snapping disk and system for use may be used with a variety of smoking substances or materials, including but not limited to Cannabis inflorescence, tobacco inflorescence, Cannabis oil, or dab oil.

The snapping disk may be used in readily available smoking apparatuses, though it may be more desirable to use the custom-made system because the snapping of the disk may cause the disk to flip itself or smoking material out of the smoking bowl. The custom-made system may have a separate chamber—such as the area below the prongs in the glass bowl attachment, 101, shown in FIG. 1. This chamber contains the snapping disk. Because the attachment is glass, the disk may be seen and heard easily. When using a chamber type smoking bowl, heat may be applied to the sides or bottom of the bowl.

Heat for the system may be applied from numerous including but not limited to matches, cigarette-style lighters, torches, and/or electric heating elements.

The snapping disk and systems for use may be available in many sizes. As an example, one set of sizes is described here. If using a glass bowl attachment, the glass bowl may have an inner diameter of 18 mm. The prongs for holding the material plate in the bowl may extend 6 mm from the edge of the bowl. The air bypass may be 3 mm in diameter. The entire glass bowl end may be 35 mm tall with a 22 mm outer diameter. The prongs may sit 15 mm above the bottom of the glass bowl. The attachment end may be 85 mm long and 4.5 mm in diameter.

The snapping disk itself may be 15.8 mm in diameter. The hole in center of the disk may be 2.2 mm in diameter. The disk is slightly concave in shape, allowing it to snap or invert, and may have a resting height of 0.2 mm. The snapping disk may be made of many metallic or non-metallic combinations. One bimetallic example has a high expansion side composed of 9.0-11.0% by weight of nickel, 71.0-73.0% by weight of manganese, 17.0-19.0% by weight of copper, 0.1% by weight carbon, 0.1% by weight silicon, 0.025% by weight sulfur, and 0.025% by weight phosphorous. The low expansion side has a composition of 35.5-36.5% by weight nickel, 0.2-0.5% by weight manganese, 0.03% by weight carbon, 0.25% by weight silicon, 0.025% by weight sulfur, and 0.025% by weight phosphorous. The resulting snapping disk sets may snap at the temperatures of 160, 170, 180, 190, 200, 210, 220° C. Most users prefer 180-200° C. smoking temperatures.

The material plate may be 17 mm in diameter with a thickness of 2 mm.

A range of possibilities exists for many dimensions of the snapping disk and system. The above embodiment is restated with larger ranges below. These ranges are not intended to restrict this application in any way. Useful devices may exist beyond the ranges listed here, but maximum comfort for the user is most likely within the following ranges.

If using a glass bowl attachment, the glass bowl may have an inner diameter of 11 mm to 20 mm. The prongs for holding the material plate in the bowl may extend 2 to 6 mm from the edge of the bowl. The air bypass may be 2 mm to 3 mm in diameter. The entire glass bowl end may be 25 mm to 50 mm tall with a 20 mm to 30 mm outer diameter. The prongs may sit 5 mm to 15 mm above the bottom of the glass bowl. The attachment end may be 25 mm to 150 mm long and 2 mm to 5 mm in diameter.

The snapping disk itself may be 10 to 18 mm in diameter. The hole in center of the disk may be 2 mm to 4 mm in diameter. The disk is slightly concave in shape, allowing it to snap or invert, and may have a resting height of 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm. The material plate may be 10 mm to 19 mm in diameter with a thickness of 1 mm to 3 mm. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A device inserted into the smoking chamber of a smoking apparatus that indicates when a desired temperature has been achieved.
 2. The device of claim 1 where the device is bimetallic.
 3. The device of claim 2 where the device is a disk.
 4. A smoking apparatus system comprising of: a bowl attachment which fits a readily available smoking apparatus; and a device inserted into the smoking chamber of the bowl attachment that indicates when a desired temperature has been achieved.
 5. The smoking apparatus system of claim 4, further comprising the entire smoking apparatus needed for the system's bowl attachment. 